My first memory at about One Year of age is of a view of the full moon through the window next to my crib. I remember standing up and holding onto the windowsill and marveling at the bright object in the sky. When I look at the sky, I feel absolutely ancient, like a Mayan or Babylonian astronomer. It still takes my breath away, and challenges me to believe in genetic/race memory.

Earth--Day and Night Regions

Planetary Positions

Saturday, March 31, 2012

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Key Stars

The stars of the Winter Triangle (Sirius, Betelgeuse and Procyon) arelow in the evening twilight throughout April. The Plough asterism, orBig Dipper, is best placed for observation this month, being overheadat 10 P.M. local daylight time. Brilliant Arcturus (Alpha Bootis) andSpica (Alpha Virginis) are in the southeast. Regulus (Alpha Leonis)remains high in the southwest while Vega (Alpha Lyrae), one of thestars of the Summer Triangle, makes its appearance in the northeast.

The Planets

Mercury

Mercury reaches its greatest elongation on the 18th, when it lies 27degrees west of the Sun. Early risers may catch a brief view of theplanet in the pre-dawn sky, about 30 minutes before sunrise and only 5degrees above the eastern horizon. Binoculars could prove useful forspotting it against the bright twilight.

Venus

Venus, the dazzling Evening Star, outshines all the other stars andplanets in the night sky and is in good view in the west as darknessbegins to fall. It begins the month only 1 degree below the Pleiadesstar cluster and slowly moves eastward with each passing day. By April30, the planet sits just 3 degrees south of second-magnitude BetaTauri, also known as Elnath, El Nath, or Alnath.

Mars

By mid-evening, as Venus and Jupiter set in the west, Mars standstwo-thirds of the way from the southeastern horizon to the zenith. Itspends the month floating 5 degrees or less from Regulus (AlphaLeonis), a slightly dimmer star with which it contrasts beautifully.Through a telescope, the Red Planet's disk will appear no bigger than12" across, still rather small even at high magnifications.

Jupiter

If you have a clear, flat horizon, look for Jupiter lying low in thewest after sunset. This is your last chance to spot the planet duringthe current apparition. By the end of the month, Jupiter willdisappear into the evening twilight and then slip behind the Sun atconjunction on May 13. Afterwards, in mid-June, Jupiter will emergefrom the dawn twilight and be visible in the morning sky beforesunrise.

Saturn

Saturn rises at the end of evening twilight as April begins. It shineshigh in the southeast, among the stars of Virgo the Maiden and closeto brilliant Spica, by midnight. The ringed planet reaches oppositionand peak visibility on the 15th, rising then around sunset. Oppositionis about when a superior planet attains its maximum apparent size andbrightness.

Uranus

Uranus is lost in the glow of sunrise and very difficult to spot. Itwill return to view in mid-May, low in the morning sky.

Neptune

Distant Neptune can be found among the background stars of Aquarius,low in the east before dawn's first light. The planet glows dimly atmagnitude +7.9, much too faint to be viewed with the unaided eye,lying at a mean distance from the Sun of 2.8 billion miles.

Pluto

The dwarf planet Pluto lies in northern Sagittarius and is highestabove the southern horizon just before dawn. Search for it under adark, moonless sky. Pluto glows at magnitude +14, and as a result, itis a challenge to spot. An 8-inch telescope on a perfect night bringsPluto to the edge of visibility. For a direct view, however, you willwant to use at least a 10-inch scope.

Bright Asteroids

6 Hebe

The main-belt asteroid 6 Hebe lies within 1.5 degrees of Algieba(Gamma Leonis), and tracks westwards until mid-month. Soon after this,it completes its retrograde loop and starts heading eastward. Glowingat about 10th-magnitude, Hebe looks like an ordinary field star and ishighest above the southern horizon around 10 P.M. local daylight time.

Bright Comets

C/2009 P1 Garradd

Comet Garradd has been observable in northern skies for over a yearnow. Despite the fact that it is currently receding from both the Sunand Earth, it still glows around 7th-magnitude and remains a nicesight throughout binoculars and small telescopes. In early April,Garradd slides through the background stars of the constellation UrsaMajor, but by mid-month it passes the border into neighboring Lynx.For observers located at mid-northern latitudes comet Garradd iscircumpolar, meaning that it never sets and can be viewed all night.

Meteor Showers

The Lyrids

This year, astronomers predict that the shower will climb to a sharppeak in the predawn hours of April 22. However, activity begins onApril 16 and continues until about the 25th. The radiant is located ina region of the sky between the constellations Lyra and Hercules, andis overhead around 5 A.M. local daylight time. With New Moon arrivingon April 21, conditions could hardly be better.

The Eta Aquarids

The Eta Aquarids first appear around April 19, and some can be seenuntil May 28. The shower's peak occurs around May 5, when up to 20 or30 meteors can be seen each hour from a dark-sky site. ThroughoutApril, the shower's radiant is found in western Aquarius - close toBeta Aquarii - and moves daily a little to the northeast. The radiantnever gets very high in the sky before dawn, so your observing time islimited.

Sky Events

April 3 - Venus is 0.4 degree south of the Pleiades star cluster at8:18 A.M. EDT.

April 6 - Full Moon at 2:19 P.M. EDT.

April 7 - The Moon is 1.4 degrees south of Spica (Alpha Virginis) at1:24 A.M. EDT. The Moon is at perigee, the point in its orbit when itis nearest to Earth.

April 13 - Last Quarter Moon at 5:50 A.M. EDT.

April 15 - Saturn is at opposition, exactly opposite the Sun in thesky as seen from the Earth.

April 18 - Mercury is at greatest western elongation, 27.5 degreeswest of the Sun in the morning sky.

April 21 - New Moon at 2:18 A.M. EDT.

April 22 - The Lyrid meteor shower is at peak activity. The Moon is atapogee, the point in its orbit when it is farthest from Earth.

April 24 - The Moon is 6.3 degrees south of Venus at 9:21 P.M. EDT.

April 28 - Astronomy Day! Established to promote astronomy to thegeneral public.

In a recent appearance on The Daily Show, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of theHayden Planetariumin New York City and researcher at the American Museum of Natural History, offered an impassioned defense of the American space program. He argued that American public policy after the 1960s “no longer advanced a space frontier” – and no longer reaped the innumerable unintended technological and scientific advancements of space travel research. Ideally, policy makers would recognize the intrinsic value of inspiring young Americans to pursue scientific educations, but Tyson adds that these fields “are the foundations of tomorrows economies, and without it” America will be ill-equipped to compete internationally.

“If China wants to put a military base on the moon, we’re there in ten years.” -Neil deGrasse Tyson, The Daily Show (2/29/2012)

Tyson’s sober article in the March issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, titled, “The Case for Space”, belies his optimistic interview. He writes that “only three motivations have led societies to spend… capital on ambitious, speculative projects: the celebration of a divine or royal power, the search for profit, and war.” In the American case it seems that war, or fear of war, has been the major motivator. The militaristic origins of America’s space program are undeniable. The space program was largely established in response to the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik 1, which consisted of firing a hollowed ballistic missile head in to orbit. The implications were obvious to American policy makers and NASA was founded to counter the Soviet Union’s early advantage.

Tyson cites a Chinese policy paper that describes the country’s ambitious five-year plan to develop its own space program, adding, “the country has an excellent track record of matching promises with achievements.” President Obama never cited Chinese progress in this area as a concern, but there are broader fears about its military. Tyson is cautiously optimistic that fears of a narrowing military advantage over China might produce another “Sputnik moment” for America, spurring a resurgence in national interest and funding for space travel research and development.

In his 2011 State of the Union Address President Obama endorsed the view that American superiority in space was the result of Cold War competition and that “after investing in better research and education…we unleashed a wave innovation.” Unlike the 1950s, the United States does not have a single global competitor, but is instead faced with disparate groups and organizations. Iran seems like an obvious contemporary substitute for the Soviet Union – there are fears of a “cold war” developing over the nuclear standoff – but the White House National Defense Strategy reflects a greater focus on Chinese rapid technological advances. Perhaps, that is the inspiration for Obama’s assertion that in order to “strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people” Americans must replicate the levels of research and development achieved at the height of the “space race.”

Perhaps President Obama should have mentioned Chinese advancements. Ideally, support for the space program would be for purely scientific and educational purposes, but fear – in this case, fear of diminishing military advantage over China – will likely be more effective in reigniting interest in the space program. The returns on these investments, intended and unintended, will be critical in the technologically driven economies of the twenty-first century. Whether driven by ego, profit or fear, America should consider the importance of a serious investment in our space program because of the increasingly technologically driven international economy. Perhaps, some domestic programs would suffer from a heightened investment in space exploration, but the space program should be considered one of the critical domestic programs that deserves additional federal funding.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

This Week's Sky at a Glance

Some daily events in the changing sky for March 23 – 30

by Alan M. MacRobert

Watch the waxing crescent Moon march through its latest pairups with Jupiter and Venus. (These scenes are drawn for the middle of North America. European observers: move each Moon symbol a quarter of the way toward the one for the previous date. For clarity, the Moon is shown three times actual size.)

Venus and Jupiter continue shining in the west during and after dusk this week, though ever farther apart. Venus is so bright that it's easy to spot before sunset if you have normally sharp vision. About a half hour after sunset this evening, look very far below Venus and Jupiter, and perhaps a little right, for the very thin, day-and-a-half-old crescent Moon as shown here.Saturday, March 24

Venus, Jupiter, and the crescent Moon now form a flattened triangle in the west as twilight fades. As darkness deepens, look above Venus for the Pleiades.Sunday, March 25

The Moon and Venus, the two brightest celestial objects after the Sun, appear paired up in the west this evening. In reality Venus is 260 times farther away. It's at a distance of 6 light-minutes from Earth, compared to the Moon's distance of 1.3 light-seconds. Jupiter, looking on from below, is currently 48 light-minutes from Earth.
Coincidentally, Venus is at its greatest elongation: 46° east of the Sun. That makes this the very best possible time to spot Venus during daylight hours.Tuesday, March 27

As night comes on, look for the little Pleiades cluster to the lower right of the Moon and above Venus. Left of the Moon shines orange Aldebaran, with the stars of the Hyades around it.

Early Wednesday morning, along a path from New Mexico to central California, the 6.8-magnitude star 14 Virginis will be occulted low in the west-southwestern sky by the small asteroid 823 Sisigambis. The star should vanish for no more than 1.6 seconds within several minutes of 11:23 Universal Time.Charts and details.Wednesday, March 28

If you observe with binoculars you're probably well acquainted with the big Beehive Cluster, M44 in Cancer, very high in the evening this month. But how about the smaller, fainter cluster M67 in the same vicinity? And have you tried to resolve Iota Cancri, a rather difficult binocular double star? See Gary Seronik's Binocular Highlight column and chart in the March Sky & Telescope, page 45.

The eclipsing variable star Algol should be at minimum light, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours centered on 9:00 p.m. EDT.Thursday, March 29

This is the time of year when the dim Little Dipper juts to the right from Polaris (its handle-end) during evening hours. The much brighter Big Dipper curls over high above it, "dumping water" into it.

This is also the time of year when Orion, declining in the southwest after dark, displays his three-star Belt more or less horizontally.Friday, March 30

First-quarter Moon (exact at 3:41 p.m. EDT). The Moon shines in the legs of Gemini, below Pollux and Castor and high above sinking Betelgeuse.Saturday, March 31

The Moon shines high in the southwest this evening. It forms a gently curving line (as seen from North America) with Pollux and Castor to its upper right and Procyon below it.

Want to become a better amateur astronomer? Learn your way around the constellations. They're the key to locating everything fainter and deeper to hunt with binoculars or a telescope.
For an easy-to-use constellation guide covering the whole evening sky, use the big monthly map in the center of each issue of Sky & Telescope, the essential magazine of astronomy. Or download our free Getting Started in Astronomybooklet (which only has bimonthly maps).Once you get a telescope, to put it to good use you'll need a detailed, large-scale sky atlas (set of charts). The standards are the little Pocket Sky Atlas, which shows stars to magnitude 7.6; the larger and deeper Sky Atlas 2000.0(stars to magnitude 8.5); and the even larger Uranometria 2000.0 (stars to magnitude 9.75). And read how to use sky charts effectively.
You'll also want a good deep-sky guidebook, such as Sue French's Deep-Sky Wonders collection (which includes its own charts), Sky Atlas 2000.0 Companion by Strong and Sinnott, the bigger Night Sky Observer's Guide by Kepple and Sanner, or the classic if dated Burnham's Celestial Handbook.Can a computerized telescope replace charts? I don't think so — not for beginners, anyway, and especially not on mounts and tripods are less than top-quality mechanically (able to point with better than 0.2° repeatability). As Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer say in their Backyard Astronomer's Guide, "A full appreciation of the universe cannot come without developing the skills to find things in the sky and understanding how the sky works. This knowledge comes only by spending time under the stars with star maps in hand."

This Week's Planet Roundup

.Mercury is hidden deep in the glow of sunrise.Venus and Jupiter are moving apart now but still form a spectacular pair in the western evening sky. They're 9° apart on March 23th and 14&@176; apart by the 30th. Venus is the brighter one, on top. It will stay about the same height at dusk well into April, but Jupiter is sinking ever lower. These are the two brightest celestial objects after the Sun and Moon, being magnitudes –4.5 and –2.1 right now, respectively.
Venus is at greatest elongation this week (exact on March 26th). For skywatchers at mid-northern latitudes, this is Venus's highest showing in its 8-year cycle of apparitions.
In a telescope Venus is now a bit less than half lit and 23 arcseconds tall. Jupiter shows a much lower surface brightness, being farther from the Sun, but its apparent diameter is somewhat larger: 32″ (though this is small for Jupiter).Mars (magnitude –0.9) shines bright fire-orange under the belly of Leo. Fainter Regulus is 6° or 7° to its upper right in early evening, and Gamma Leonis is farther above it.
Mars was at opposition on March 3rd. Now it's fading and shrinking a bit as Earth pulls ahead of it along our faster, inside-track orbit around the Sun. But at least Mars is shining higher in the evening sky now, reaching a good altitude for telescopic observing at a convenient hour. It's highest in the south by around 11 p.m. daylight-saving time.
In a telescope Mars is 13.0 arcseconds wide. It won't appear this big and close again until 2014. Notice the much shrunken little North Polar Cap; spring is giving way to summer in Mars's northern hemisphere. See our Mars map and observing guide in the April Sky & Telescope, page 50.Saturn (magnitude +0.3, in Virgo) rises in the east around the end of twilight and glows highest in the south around 2 a.m. Shining 6° to its right is Spica, about half as bright at magnitude +1.0 and bluer. In a telescope Saturn's rings are tilted 14° from our line of sight.Uranus and Neptune are hidden in the sunrise.
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All descriptions that relate to your horizon — including the words up, down, right, and left — are written for the world's mid-northern latitudes. Descriptions that also depend on longitude (mainly Moon positions) are for North America. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) equals Universal Time (also known as UT, UTC, or GMT) minus 4 hours.

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March 2012

Mercury is brightly visible the first week of the month, low in the west 40 minutes after the sunset. Mars, out all night, reaches opposition on the 3rd and comes closest to Earth on the 5th at magnitude -1.2. At 60 million miles distant, this poor opposition makes Martian details telescopically challenging. Dazzling Venus meets brilliant Jupiter between the 7th and the 18th above the sunset point. Venus’s greatest separation from the Sun is on the 27th. The Moon hovers below Saturn and the blue star Spica on the 10th, spectacularly sits to the right of Jupiter on the 25th and to the left of Venus on the 26th. The equinox arrives at 1:14 A.M. on the 20th to bring the earliest arrival of spring in 116 years.

Sky Map: March 2012

Astronomer Jeff DeTray has created the printable Sky Mapbelow to help you navigate the night sky. This month's highlight: Dancing with the Planets!

Stars may dance on television, but in the March sky, it is the planets Venus and Jupiter who are partners in a nightly waltz. The pair stay close together, low in the west, for most of March. Jupiter remains pretty much in one place all month, while the position of Venus changes noticeably from night to night. If you venture out every few evenings during March you'll see Venus march steadily past Jupiter until she gradually moves up, up, and away by month's end.

Stately Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. How large? Let's compare it to our own Earth. By diameter, Jupiter at 88,865 miles is 11.2 times the size of Earth. By surface area, Jupiter is 122 times the size of the Earth. By mass, Jupiter is 318 times larger than Earth. Finally, by volume, Jupiter is a whopping 1,321 times larger than our home planet. That's right: It would take 1,321 Earths to fill up Jupiter! You might wonder how Jupiter can be 1,321 times the volume of Earth but with a mass that is only 318 times as great. The answer is that Jupiter is comprised largely of gases surrounding a small solid core, whereas our Earth is mostly solid with a dense molten core. Jupiter Trivia: Jupiter has rings, but compared to the renowned rings of Saturn, Jupiter's are dark and dim.

Venus is the goddess of love and beauty. As the brightest of all planets, she certainly deserves her name. Venus is often referred to as Earth's sister because the two planets are so similar in size and composition, with Venus just slightly the smaller of the two. Venus is so bright because she is both highly reflective and relatively close to us. The dense carbon dioxide atmosphere of Venus reflects sunlight extremely well. At its nearest, Venus is closer to us than any other planet ever gets, a mere 25.5 million miles. The combination of reflectivity and proximity makes Venus dazzlingly bright. Venus Trivia: Venus displays phases, just like our Moon. With a small telescope or even large binoculars, you can see the phases quite clearly.

Both Jupiter and Venus have been visited by spacecraft from Earth. More than 20 spacecraft have been sent to Venus, starting with Mariner 2 in 1962. The Soviet Union's Venera 7 became the first space probe to land on another planet when it touched down on Venus in 1970. Jupiter is much more distant and therefore much more difficult for spacecraft to reach. The first to do so was Pioneer 10, which flew by the giant planet in 1970. The Galileo probe orbited Jupiter for eight years beginning in 1995.

Jupiter and Venus aren't the only sights in March sky. Enjoy the bright stars of winter while you can, because they will soon dip below the horizon for the summer. Don't worry— they'll return in the autumn!

Planetary Symbols

Solar System Configuration

Sun Rise / Set Time

Solar and lunar Eclipse Dates for 2012

May 20, 2012: Annular eclipse of the Sun This rare eclipse will be partially visible from all but eastern North America. For most western locations, the eclipse will begin between 5:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M. PDT. In Alaska and parts of northern Canada, the eclipse will start an hour earlier and end 2 to 3 hours later (or will be interrupted by sunset). In San Francisco, for example, the eclipse will begin at 5:16 P.M. PDT, reach its maximum at 6:33 P.M., and end at 7:30 P.M., with the Sun very low on the horizon.

June 3-4, 2012: Partial eclipse of the Moon In North America, this will be fully visible only from western Alaska; Hawaiians will also have a view. The Moon will enter the penumbra at 10:47 P.M. HAST on June 3, reach a maximum at 1:03 A.M. on June 4, and then leave the penumbra at 3:20 A.M. The eclipse will be partially visible from most of central and western parts of North America; observers will be able to see both a penumbral and umbral eclipse. The Moon will enter the penumbra at 1:47 A.M. PDT on June 4 and then enter the umbra at 2:59 A.M. PDT. However, the Moon will set before completion of the eclipse. Only a penumbral eclipse will be visible from the Northeast, starting at 4:47 A.M. EDT on June 4, before the Moon sets.

November 13-14, 2012: Total eclipse of the Sun This eclipse will not be visible from North America. It will be visible only from Australia, Polynesia, the South Pacific Ocean, southern South America, and Antarctica.

November 28, 2012: Penumbral eclipse of the Moon This eclipse will be fully visible only from Alaska and western parts of Hawaii. The Moon will enter the penumbra at 3:13 A.M. AKST, reach a maximum at 5:33 A.M., and exit the penumbra at 7:53 A.M. In central and western North America, the eclipse will begin at 4:13 A.M. PST, but the Moon will set before the eclipse concludes. No eclipse will be visible from eastern North America.

About Me

I am an Air Force Veteran of the Cold War and the First Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm). I live on a wooded hilltop with my two rescued dogs, Yogi and Ranger, and two rescued cats, White Sox, and Mittens. We share my land with several deer, a family of red-tailed hawks, a barn owl, numerous squirrels (that my dogs and the cat tree together), a family of pileated woodpeckers and numerous cottontail rabbits, and an occasional opossum or raccoon.